HAMLET
TALK SHOW IN THE AFTERLIFE
LESSON PLAN
BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE
During the summer holidays students were asked to read HAMLET in abridged edition.
Before discussing the story the class was divided into groups and given research work
on the Elizabethan stage and the Globe Theatre from the following web site
(http://aspirations.english.cam.ac.uk/converse/enrich/globe_picker.html).
The
information discovered by each group was shared with the rest of the class
(Cooperative learning).
Other two lessons were dedicated to a general overview of the text and characters,
asking students to discuss some of the main themes.
GROUP WORK
In groups of four, students were asked to write the monologue of one of the main
characters (randomly chosen) at the end of the tragedy, explaining to the other
protagonists ( and a general public) their behavior, desires, fears, imagining their
feelings, and so on.
Students were given info sheets on the characters containing suggestions and open
questions.
CLASS PRESENTATION / DISCUSSION
Randomly , one of the members of the group was chosen to recite/read their
monologue, sitting alongside the other characters in front of the class. Fellow
characters and members of the public asked questions, or commented on what had
been said in talk show style. Characters had to argue and defend their point of view,
take responsibility for their actions and in some cases reconcile during the talk show.
FOLLOW UP ACTIVITES
The activities continued by reading and analyzing the To Be or Not To Be monologue
and discussing the main themes of the play.
The Globe Theatre Group Work
Talk show in the Afterlife
Monologues
Verifica
THE GLOBE THEATRE AT SHAKESPEARE’S TIME
GROUP A
Answers to the following questions at this web site
http://aspirations.english.cam.ac.uk/converse/movies/sound_globe.swf
1. What type of animals were used on stage?
2. Why did Puritans consider the theatre so sinful/immoral?
3. What is a soliloquy? Why was it important?
4. What signalled that the play was about to begin?
5. What would the audience do if they didn't like a play?
6. What were playbills?
Torna alla pagina iniziale
THE GLOBE THEATRE AT SHAKESPEARE’S TIME
GROUP B
Answers to the following questions at this web site
http://aspirations.english.cam.ac.uk/converse/movies/sound_globe.swf
1. What were playbills?
2. Who got wet if it rained during a play?
3. How did people behave at the theatre?
4. How would Shakespeare's special effects man create the sound of
birds?
5. What was unusual about female characters?
6. Who is a Patron; what did he do?
Torna alla pagina iniziale
THE GLOBE THEATRE AT SHAKESPEARE’S TIME
GROUP C Answers to the following questions at this web site
http://aspirations.english.cam.ac.uk/converse/movies/sound_globe.swf
1. What were the people with the cheapest tickets called? Why?
2. Who sat in the galleries?
3. Were actors part of high society? What did people think of them?
4. What was a 'cutpurse' and what might happen to them at the
theatre?
5. Did all theatre companies own a theatre to perform in?
6. What is a soliloquy? Why was it important?
Torna alla pagina iniziale
THE GLOBE THEATRE AT SHAKESPEARE’S TIME
GROUP D
Answers to the following questions at this web site
http://aspirations.english.cam.ac.uk/converse/movies/sound_globe.swf
1. How were pickpockets treated if they got caught?
2. How did the Globe catch fire?
3. What were satirical comedies about?
4. Where did the players get their best costumes from?
5. Could you leave the theatre if the play had no finished?
6. Why did Puritans consider the theatre so sinful/immoral?
’’
Torna alla pagina iniziale
THE GLOBE THEATRE AT SHAKESPEARE’S TIME
GROUP E
Answers to the following questions at this web site
http://aspirations.english.cam.ac.uk/converse/movies/sound_globe.swf
1. Who is a Patron; what did he do?
2. Why was Shakespeare so interested in the financial success of the
Globe?
3. What sort of people went to the Globe theatre?
4. What sort of scenery did Shakespeare's theatre have?
5. Where did the players get their best costumes from?
6. How did the Globe catch fire?
Torna alla pagina iniziale
THE GLOBE THEATRE AT SHAKESPEARE’S TIME
GROUP F
Answers to the following questions at this web site
http://aspirations.english.cam.ac.uk/converse/movies/sound_globe.swf
1. What is doubling?
2. What could a specific costume or colour tell the public about the
character on stage?
3. How many toilets were there at the Globe in Shakespeare's day?
4. How did Shakespeare's company light their plays?
5. What did the area under the stage symbolize when actors shouted
from underneath it?
6. Why was Shakespeare so interested in the financial success of the
Globe?
Torna alla pagina iniziale
TALK SHOW IN THE AFTERLIFE
6 main characters meet in the afterlife talk show style and discuss their relationships , responsibilities and deep
desires Write her/his monologue.
Group Work :After reading the play (abridged version) write her/his monologue. One member of the group will be
chosen to recite/read the monologue and then answer questions asked by the public or other characters . Be ready
to explain and defend your choices.
Hamlet : You pretended to be crazy.
o
o
o
o
o
o
Ophelia (your girlfriend) - you think all women are betraying whores. You deny loving her.
Claudius (your uncle) - he murdered your father and married your mother.
Gertrude (your mother) - doesn’t know your father died (poison in his ear)
Horatio - your only true friend left.
Polonius (Ophelia’s meddling father) - you accidentally kill him.
Laertes (Ophelia’s brother) - you kill each other.
Probe Hamlet’s mind. Get inside it and explore every niche and crevice. Then, attempt to explain why he acts as he
does. True, his behavior is in large part a reaction to his father’s death and his mother’s marriage to Claudius. But what else
bothers Hamlet? Is he angry because he himself did not succeed to the throne? Does the ghost cause him to dwell morbidly
on the afterlife? Does he suddenly hate all women because of what his mother did?
Gertrude : You have a close relationship with Hamlet, but you are a bit nervous around him.
o
o
o
o
o
Hamlet Senior (your husband of thirty years) - one month after his death, you married Claudius (his
brother).
Claudius - your current husband of one month.
Hamlet (your beloved son) who goes crazy for no apparent reason.
Ophelia - Hamlet’s unfortunate girlfriend.
Polonius - your advisor/Ophelia’s father.
You die by drinking poisoned wine.
Probe her mind. Get inside it. Then, attempt to explain why she acts as she does. How does she react when her
husband does? Is she in love with Claudius, did she love her husband,? What’s her role: mother, queen, wife woman?
Claudius You poisoned your brother while he slept, but no one knows about it. You married Gertrude, his widow, after
only a month. You think Hamlet suspects what you did, and plots with Laertes (seeking revenge for his father and sister’s
deaths) to kill Hamlet in a duel. You accidentally kill Gertrude when she drinks poisoned wine that was meant for Hamlet
Probe his mind. Get inside it. Then, attempt to explain why he acts as he does. What does he really want? Would he be a
better king/ husband /father than his brother? Who can he trust?
Ghost of Hamlet Sr. :You are Hamlet’s father. In life, you killed Fortinbras Sr. in battle, which causes Fortinbras to invade
Denmark, before you were murdered by your brother, Claudius. You appear first to Horatio and then to Hamlet. You tell
Hamlet of your murder and order him to avenge your death, which causes him to feign insanity and sparks the tragedy that
follows.
How can your convince your son to revenge you? And what about your wife? Do you still love her? Does she love you? Did
she betray you while you were still alive?
Laertes : You hate Hamlet. Polonius (your father) - Hamlet killed him on ‘accident’ while he was spying on Hamlet and
Gertrude. Ophelia (your sister) - she went crazy after Hamlet rejected her and then killed your father. She drowns herself.
Claudius - convinces you to fight Hamlet. You kill each other.
Probe Laertes’s mind. Get inside it. Then, attempt to explain why he acts as he does. How does he react towards his father
and his sister? Is he angry because he believes he should be prince and not that weakling of Hamlet?
Torna alla pagina iniziale
Ophelia : You go crazy after Hamlet calls you a whore and tells you he never loved you. Hamlet - your long-time
boyfriend. Polonius (your father) - was killed by Hamlet, which adds to your insanity. Laertes - (your brother) who is
studying in Paris.
Probe her mind. Get inside it. Then, attempt to explain why she acts as she does. How does she react towards her
father / brother? Is she in love with Hamlet , does he love her,? Does anyone truly love/respect her? Why is she so
desperate?
Torna alla pagina iniziale
TALK SHOW IN THE AFTERLIFE
The 6 main characters of Shakespeare’s play HAMLET meet in an the afterlife and take part
in a talk show. They discuss their relationships, responsibilities and deep desires.
HAMLET
I am Hamlet and I would like to express my feelings and my thoughts to you. I am
particularly thoughtful and before doing something I think a lot on what I have to
do. In fact, when the ghost appeared and told me to revenge my father, I waited a lot
before making a decision.
Thanks to the ghost, I learnt the truth: my father was poisoned by Claudius, the
new king who became my stepfather because he married Gertrude, my mother.
In my opinion, the only aim of my stepfather was to become the king of Denmark,
stealing my throne. If I had my revenge immediately I would be killed by Claudius in
a cruel way. I had been very afraid and I decided to make Claudius feel guilty.
When the actors performed my story, Claudius was clearly disturbed by the
poisoning scene. I was triumphant and after the play I had a fantastic occasion to
kill Claudius: when he was praying and repenting. I decided not to kill him because
if I had my revenge in that way Claudius would go to heaven and not to hell.
During the play, I sat next to Ophelia who I think is unfaithful like all the women in
the world. When I came back to Denmark I discovered that Ophelia had died, falling
into the river while she was collecting flowers.
Laertes was very angry with me even if I didn’t want to hurt Ophelia. Laertes
suggested a just-for-fun swordfight and in that occasion I had my revenge. I killed
Laertes and finally I stabbed and poisoned Claudius, then I died because of the
poisoned wound Laertes gave me.
In fact, the Laertes’ sword was poisoned and, in a few words, he killed himself with
his own hands. I think that Laertes has been blinded by hate and his mind has been
manipulated by Claudius.
In the end, my mother Gertrude didn’t want to accept the truth: her dead husband
had been poisoned by Claudius so she has been a victim of her relatives’ revenge.
She died when she wanted to show affection and love for me. – Sorry mum, you have
been the only person that really loved me.-
Benetton , Pitta, Collautti, Fanton
Torna alla pagina iniziale
CLAUDIUS
My name is Claudius, I’m the brother of the dead King of Denmark, and I want to
tell you my story of lies and betrayals.
Since I was a child, I’ve been jealous of my older brother, because he became the
King of Denmark, he married a beautiful woman and he also had a family.
I’ve always felt inferior to him, and my aim has always been to make him pay for it.
That’s why I killed the King by pouring poison in his ear while he was sleeping in the
garden.
Maybe I’m a bad man, but I would have been certainly a good king, a good husband
and good stepfather. Actually I never really loved Gertrude, and Hamlet has always
represented a problem for me. I wanted them only because I knew that by doing so I
would hurt my brother.
Being a successful King doesn’t necessarily mean being a nice person or doing the
right thing, but being inventive, charismatic and manipulative; all qualities that I’ve
got.
The only person who really tried to stop me was Hamlet. He had always suspected
me, and he tried to revenge his father’s murder in many ways.
But in conclusion, I don’t regret anything, even if I haven’t obtained everything I
wanted.
In fact if my plan to kill Hamlet hadn’t gone wrong, and if Gertrude hadn’t drunk the
poisoned wine, now Hamlet would be dead and I would still be King.
Now, that we are face to face, I have to tell each of you a last few things: Gertrude,
maybe you are the only one I’m sorry for what I’ve done to you. I didn’t want to hurt
you so much.
Hamlet, if now I’m not the King of Denmark it is all your fault.
And brother, I’m proud to have killed you, because I’ve obtained my revenge.
Bearzotti, F.Cesare, Fiorillo, Schiavo
Torna alla pagina iniziale
GHOST OF HAMLET Sr.
My story talks about a betrayal. I am the real king of Denmark, murdered by my
brother Claudius who immediately usurped my throne marring my wife Gertrude.
It was midnight when I first showed myself to my sentinels. I didn't waste a word
with them, because my aim was to speak with my son. In my second apparition I
finally asked Hamlet to revenge me. I thought my mission had ended, but I kept on
living in my son's mind. From that moment Hamlet started going crazy and seeing
revenge as the only reason for life.
Now I have become Hamlets' alter-ego, I torment his thoughts, actions and push him
to do unreasonable things. I could seem selfish because by wanting this revenge I
turned him into a murderer, but in reality it can be understandable because
everyone who loses his point of reference is also blinded by rage.
Now it's your turn to judge if the reason of this tragedy is my fault or my son's fault.
However at the end of this sad story I feel a little guilty for all of these victims caused
by my thirst of revenge. If I could go back to the past I would do everything again
just as I have done, because my soul can't be free without revenge.
Califano, Driutti, Mansutti, Tomasino
Torna alla pagina iniziale
OPHELIA
My name is Ophelia. I’m Polonius’s daughter and I’m 16 years old. I lived in Elsinore
Castle with my father and Laertes, my jealous brother. I was in love with Hamlet, I
thought.
Hamlet was my boyfriend and I thought that he really loved me, but his behaviour
showed me that he didn’t care less about me. I was very young and naive to decide
for myself, so other people decided for me. Hamlet, for example, had control of me
and my body, he insisted and I had to give myself to made Hamlet satisfied, so my
brother and my father told me that I should fear intimacy with Hamlet.
But my father and my brother wanted me to be indifferent towards him only for
political reasons, in fact the King wanted me to spy on Hamlet to understand if he is
really going crazy.
This indifference made Hamlet very nervous, in fact he started to offend me, call me
a prostitute, he said he didn’t love me and for this I was hurt very deeply. I was very
confused but in the end I understood that I have never been and I would have never
been free.
So, I decided to commit suicide in this way, with flowers and singing a beautiful
song, living at least this moment with awareness and in peace, because I loved, but
nobody loved me.
Grion, Nocent, P.Cesare, Zoto
Torna alla pagina iniziale
LAERTES
My name is Laertes, a young Danish Lord, son of Polonius and the brother of
Ophelia. I spent most of my time at college in France, but when I
heard about my father’s death, I returned secretly from France and wanted to know
the truth about my father. Not only, but I was very upset at the
sight of my sister Ophelia who was shocked by our father’s death and I think she
went mad!
I asked the King, Claudius some information about what had happened and he told
me that Hamlet had killed my father so we organized a trap for
him. It was a fencing match between Hamlet and myself and my sword had a
poisoned blade. What’s more, Claudius prepared some poisoned wine for
Hamlet. Then, the Queen came in and told me that Ophelia had died.
When I was at Ophelia’s funeral, suddenly Hamlet arrived , we fought, but Oratio
took Hamlet away. I really hate Hamlet! How could he think of
loving Ophelia more than me?
The King organized a challenge between Hamlet and myself in front of the whole
court. Before the fight, Hamlet gave me his apologies for killing my
father. I accepted them, but I insisted on playing out the match as a way to restore
my honour in the eyes of the world. I was only able to
scratch Hamlet with the poisoned sword and the poison started to flow in Hamlet’s
veins. Then, we exchanged swords and Hamlet wounded me. We were both
poisoned and we died. How stupid I was, but my sister was dead and my father too,
it was a shock, because my sister was all my life, she was
the only reason for living!
Now I’m in the Afterlife and I can meet my lovely sister again. At the beginning I
hated Hamlet, but when I discovered that Claudius had such a cruel aim to became
the new King, I apologize to him (Hamlet).
Cusmà, Billiani, Russo, Magrino
Torna alla pagina iniziale
GERTRUDE
I'm Gertrude, and Hamlet is my son.
I'm the queen of Denmark and I will explain my complicated story.
When Hamlet's father, king of Denmark died, I was very upset, desperate and I
didn't know anymore who I really was.
So, while every evening I was crying in my bedroom, Claudius, Hamlet's uncle,
comforted me in a very special way as nobody had ever done in my life. I felt
protected and understood.
So after a few days I fell in love with him, and a month later we got married. Maybe
the reason of this choice was my desperation, but I realized my mistake too late.
After marrying him, I hoped that my son would get along with Claudius, and
consider him not just an uncle but a second father and also that Claudius would
learn to love Hamlet like his own son.
But this was only an illusion.
In fact Hamlet came to my bedroom and he told me the truth: he wanted to seem
mad so he could kill Claudius, the king's murderer more easily.
I was scared by Hamlet's cruel words and violent reactions, and I cried for help.
He accused me of a great sin: marrying my husband's brother just a few weeks after
my husband's death.
He shocked me, but also helped me admit the guilty feelings I had tried to suppress
up to now.
When he said that the ghost of my old husband was with us in the bedroom I felt
even guiltier and the love for him came back to me as vivid as before.
Finally, I have to say that I feel so sorry and so guilty for the things I've done. I
realized too late that I didn't love Claudius like the way I had loved Hamlet's father.
Della Mora, Bottos, Stoian ,Janscak.
Torna alla pagina iniziale
ENGLISH TEST
Name:............................................. Class:................................Date:...............................
ANSWER AT LEAST FOUR OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS
1.
Explain, in your own words, the following verses from Hamlet. What language/ images is used to
describe death? Why is Hamlet so desperate?
To die, to sleep.
To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
To die, to sleep—to sleep, maybe to dream. Ah, but there’s the
catch: in death’s sleep who knows what kind of dreams might
come, after we’ve put the noise and commotion of life behind us.
That’s certainly something to worry about. That’s the
consideration that makes us stretch out our sufferings so long.
Torna alla pagina iniziale
Docente: Luisa Tubaro
(Act 3 Scene 1)
a.s. 2009-2010
(modern version)
4 A erica
Docente: Luisa Tubaro
a.s. 2009-2010
2. Revenge is one of the main themes in Hamlet. In your opinion, why does Hamlet hesitate?
3.
Shakespeare made use a lot of monologues, and asides ( when an actor speaks directly to the
public ), why was this so effective in his plays?
4 A erica
Docente: Luisa Tubaro
a.s. 2009-2010
4. The Ghost is a very ambiguous figure. His presence transforms the play from a simple revenge story
into a complex psychological drama. Do you agree?
4 A erica
Docente: Luisa Tubaro
a.s. 2009-2010
5 .Why does Shakespeare present a play – The Murder of Gonzaga - within a play in Hamlet?
4 A erica
Docente: Luisa Tubaro
a.s. 2009-2010
4 A erica
Docente: Luisa Tubaro
a.s. 2009-2010
6. Not only Hamlet suffers, think of another character and explain why he or she suffers so much?
7. What sort of people went to the Globe theatre? How did the public behave during the plays?
4 A erica
Docente: Luisa Tubaro
E’ consentito l’uso del dizionario monolingue.
a.s. 2009-2010
4 A erica